Florida DROP Program: Is It Worth It and Who Should Join?

Are you a Florida public employee wondering if the DROP program is the right move before you walk out the door for good? In this episode, we break down exactly how the Deferred Retirement Option Program works through the Florida Retirement System — and more importantly, whether it actually makes sense for your situation. DROP can be a powerful retirement planning tool, but the decision is largely irreversible, which means getting it right matters enormously. We cover who qualifies, how your retirement benefit accumulates during the DROP period, and the key financial planning considerations you need to evaluate before enrolling. Whether you are a teacher, state employee, or municipal worker, understanding the numbers behind DROP could significantly impact your long-term financial picture. Don't make this decision without getting a clear, fiduciary perspective first. Ready to talk? Schedule a complimentary discovery call at TDWealth.net. For educational purposes only. Not investment advice. 📖 Full show notes: https://tdwealth.net/florida-drop-program-is-it-worth-it-and-who-should-join/

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Davies Wealth Management

684 SE Monterey Road

Stuart, FL 34994

772-210-4031

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Davies Wealth Management makes content available as a service to its clients and other visitors, to be used for informational purposes only. Davies Wealth Management provides accurate and timely information, however you should always consult with a retirement, tax, or legal professionals prior to taking any action.

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Imagine signing, you know, just a single, totally routine HR document. And in that split second, you either add half a million dollars to your net worth or you just permanently sabotage your lifetime income.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Yeah. It's a terrifying thought.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

It really is. So today we're looking at a financial tripwire that is heavily disguised as ordinary, boring, bureaucratic paperwork. If you are a Florida public employee eyeing the exit, or, you know, maybe a high net worth individual trying to navigate the incredible complexities of retirement planning, this deep dive is entirely for you.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Aaron Powell Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

We are examining a comprehensive guide provided by Davies Wealth Management. They're a fee-based fiduciary advisor down in Stewart, Florida. And they created this specifically for their 1715 Treasure Coast Financial Wellness Podcast. Our mission today is to just pull apart the Florida Deferred Retirement Option Program.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Right, which is better known to almost everyone in the state system as simply DROP.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Do drop.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Yeah, and we're not going to frame this as some uh boring administrative checkbox. We are looking at a massive financial lever here. The Davies Wealth Management Materials lay out a really clear warning. Like, this is not a decision you make just because an HR portal says you are eligible.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

No, definitely not. Because once you push this button, the gears just lock into place. It is a largely irreversible decision and it has monumental stakes.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Aaron Powell The stakes are crazy.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

They really cannot be overstated. I mean, a missed up here doesn't just mean a slightly smaller paycheck. It can literally rewrite the financial security of your final decade. So before anyone even looks at uh the tax implications or the wealth management strategies, they really have to understand the fundamental mechanics of what is actually happening when they submit that form.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

Aaron Powell Okay, let's unpack this. Let's figure out what drop actually is, completely free of the bureaucratic jargon.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Aaron Powell Good luck. Right. Well, I like to imagine your state pension is on a financial treadmill. When you elect DVROP, the underlying growth of your pension. So that formula calculating your monthly benefit based on your years of service and your final average salary is instantly frozen in place.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Right, it stops.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

The treadmill track stops moving. But you, you get to keep running. You continue going to work, you keep your current title, and you continue collecting your regular salary and benefits for up to 60 months.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Yep, that's exactly it.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

And while you're running, that frozen monthly pension benefit doesn't just disappear into the ether. It starts pouring into a separate secondary bucket on the side. That right there is your D drop account.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

That visual captures the mechanism perfectly, actually. You are formally retiring from the Florida retirement system, you know, the FRS pension plan on paper. Or on paper. But physically, you are not leaving your desk or your classroom or your patrol car. You are simply redirecting the pension payments you would have received into a holding tank while you finish out your final working years.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

But that bucket on the side isn't just a static checking account. It's accumulating interest, right?

SPEAKER_01 2:56

It does. It earns an annual interest rate set by Florida statute. Currently, for most FRS members, that statutory rate is 1.3%.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

1.3%, okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

Yeah. So while you are collecting your normal paycheck, that separate holding tank is slowly bubbling up with your monthly pension payments, plus that 1.3% compounded interest.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

But to even get on this treadmill in the first place, you have to meet some pretty strict criteria. The guide points out a massive caveat right up front. You must be enrolled in the FRS pension plan.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

That's a huge distinction.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Yeah. If you opted for the FRS investment plan years ago, which I guess operates more like a traditional 401k, DRIP is completely off the table.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Right. It is an exclusive feature of the pension plan. And the eligibility rules to enter, they depend entirely on your specific membership class. Like looking at the source material, if you are in the regular class and enrolled for July 1st, 2011, you generally hit eligibility at age 65 with any credible service.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Or age 60, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Yeah, exactly. At age 60, if you have 30 years of service. Newer members who joined after that 2011 cutoff have entirely different, much later thresholds.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

And the timeline is accelerated for first responders, naturally.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Oh, for sure. For the special risk class, so that covers law enforcement, firefighters, and corrections officers, they can enter much earlier. Typically at age 55 with six years of special risk service, or at literally any age if they have accumulated 25 years of special risk service.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

Aaron Powell Wow, any age with 25 years. Okay. So you hit those specific marks, you sign the papers, you run on the treadmill for up to 60 months, filling up that side bucket, and then the music just stopped.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

It is a hard, non-negotiable stop. At the end of that D drop period, which by law cannot exceed 60 months, you are required to terminate employment.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

You can't just change your mind.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

No. You cannot simply change your mind, cancel your draft status, and go back to being a regular employee. You cannot extend it to 72 months because the stock market dipped or inflation is high.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

Yeah. It is a finalized binding separation from your employer.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Aaron Powell Which brings us to the trap.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

Yes, the trap.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

If I am an employee and the HR system suddenly sends me an alert saying I've reached my eligibility date, I'm looking at a scenario where I get to keep my normal salary, plus I can start secretly banking a massive pile of cash on the side.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

That's great, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Right. Why on earth wouldn't I pull that lever the literal second I am eligible? It just sounds like free money.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

And that is the exact psychological trap that catches so many public employees. What is fascinating here is how the mechanics of that frozen pension create a massive, totally invisible opportunity cost.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Invisible how?

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Well, the second you enter DLP, you forfeit any future salary increases or additional years of service from ever factoring into your lifetime pension calculation, you lock it in.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Wait, hold on. Even if the system says I'm fully eligible, taking the money now can actually cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars. How does taking a huge pile of cash result in a mathematical loss?

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Let's walk through the specific math example provided in the Davies Guide because it lays this out in stark terms.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Let's hear it.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Imagine a veteran teacher with a final average compensation of $75,000 and a 1.60% pension multiplier. Under normal circumstances, if they just ignore the drop eligibility and work two extra years as a regular employee, they add $2,400 a month to their pension for the rest of their life.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Let me do that math really quickly. $2,400 a month over a 20-year retirement, that is over half a million dollars in guaranteed risk-free lifetime income.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

Half a million dollars in guaranteed income. Exactly. Now look at the alternative. If that same teacher decides to enter a 24-month drop E instead of working normally, they freeze their pension early. Yeah. They completely miss out on that $2,400 monthly lifetime boost. Instead, they get a lump sum accumulation their D drop bucket of $144,000, which is growing at that very meager 1.3%.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

I mean, $144,000 in cash sounds incredible on the surface. But you are trading over half a million dollars in lifetime, guaranteed income for a one-time payout of $144,000.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

That is a brutal trade-off.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

It is mathematically devastating. If you take that $144,000 and try to purchase a lifetime annuity on the open market today, no insurance company is going to give you anywhere near $2,400 a month.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

Not a chance.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

This is why entering D drop too early in your career, just because you hit the minimum eligibility, can permanently suppress your lifetime income.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

And generic online retirement calculators completely miss this, don't they? Oh, totally. They show you the shiny lump sum you are gaining in the D drop bucket, but they don't calculate the lifetime compounding you are permanently giving up.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

Right. The standard calculators are looking at the accumulation, not the opportunity cost. And we have to factor in that 1.3% statutory interest rate.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

Right, because it used to be higher, didn't it?

SPEAKER_01 8:03

Much higher. The guide notes that historically the interest rate on these accounts used to be six point five percent. Whoa. Yeah, at six point five percent, the math looked very different. And entering DROP made a lot more sense early on.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

But the Florida legislature lowered it. At 1.3%, your money isn't even keeping pace with average inflation, let alone historical stock market returns.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

So we figured out the timing hazard. Let's say a listener does the math right. They avoid the early trap, they wait for the optimal time where their pension has essentially peaked, they enter D drop, they do their 60 months, and they are ready to walk away.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

Okay. Best case scenario.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Right. For certain employees, that bucket on the side isn't just a nice little $144,000 bonus. It is a staggering amount of money.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

For high net worth public employees, we are talking about school principals making $180,000, university executives or senior law enforcement administrators, a full 60-month drop accumulation can easily range from $400,000 to well over $700,000.

SPEAKER_00 9:05

Let's talk about the tax implications of that. Handing someone $700,000 in a single afternoon is a massive problem.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

A huge problem.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

Instead of a tax bomb, let's think about federal tax brackets like a series of buckets. Normally, your salary fills up the lower tax buckets and maybe a little spills into the higher ones. If you take a $700,000 DRAP payout in cash, you are dumping a fire hose into those buckets all at once.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

It instantly overflows into the highest possible federal tax brackets.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

The IRS will take a massive immediate percentage of your retirement savings before you have even spent a dime. Since Florida has no state income tax, you are solely fighting a defensive battle against federal taxes here.

SPEAKER_00 9:49

Right.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Taking the cash directly is almost always the least efficient move for a high earner.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

So how do we turn off the fire hose?

SPEAKER_01 9:56

Well, the guide outlines three primary rollover options to avoid that immediate taxable event. First, you can execute a direct rollover into a traditional IRA. This defers all the taxes. The entire lump sum moves over safely, it joins your existing pre-tax savings, and you only pay ordinary income taxes later when you eventually withdraw the funds in retirement.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

You kick the can down the road to a time when your income is presumably much lower.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

Exactly. The second option is a Roth conversion, rolling it directly into a Roth IRA. Now this triggers immediate taxation on whatever specific amount you convert, but the massive benefit is that all future growth and all future withdrawals are completely tax-free for the rest of your life.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

Wow. Forever.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

Yep. And then the third option, if you happen to be taking a second career position, is rolling the funds into a new employer's retirement plan, which preserves some structural flexibility.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

But wait, if they choose the Roth conversion on the full $700,000 lump sum, aren't they right back to overflowing those tax buckets? I mean, they are paying taxes on $700,000 of income in a single year.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

They absolutely would be if they converted it all at once, which brings us to an invisible trapdoor that so many high earners fall through.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

Oh, this is the IRMAA thing. Here's where it gets really interesting.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

Yes, IRMAA. If you realize massive income in a single year, whether by foolishly cashing out the drop directly or executing a massive one-time Roth conversion, it doesn't just spike your income taxes. It triggers a delayed penalty called IRMA.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

I really want to dig into this because the guide specifically warns about the IRMAA surcharge. I'm imagining a retired principal living her absolute dream on the Florida coast, and suddenly she gets a letter from Medicare demanding triple premiums because of a form she signed two years ago.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

It happens all the time.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

How does this trapdoor actually work?

SPEAKER_01 11:51

IRAA stands for income-related monthly adjustment amount. It is a hefty surcharge added directly to your Medicare Part B and Part D premiums if your income exceeds certain thresholds. The reason it acts like a trapdoor is the mechanics of the timing.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

The timing.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

Exactly. So if you take a massive taxable DRUP distribution at age 63, you pay the steep income taxes then, and you think the pain is over.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

Right. You think you're clear.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

But two years later, at age 65, when you enroll in Medicare for the first time, the government looks back at that massive income spike from age 63. Suddenly your baseline Medicare premiums skyrocket. It catches countless retirees completely off guard.

SPEAKER_00 12:41

That is brutal. They are penalizing you for a one-time retirement event. How does a wealth manager actually choreograph a defense against a two-year delayed penalty?

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Through discipline, partial Roth conversions spread over multiple years.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

Okay, partial conversion.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

Right. Instead of converting the entire $700,000 lump sum in a single shot, the strategy involves rolling the drop into a traditional IRA first to protect it from immediate taxation. Then, year by year, you systematically convert smaller calculated portions of it into a Roth IRA.

SPEAKER_00 13:11

Ah, I see.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

You intentionally fill up the lower tax buckets right to the brim, but you carefully stop before crossing the specific thresholds that trigger IRMAA or push you into the punitive federal brackets.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

Okay, let's take a breath because the alphabet soup is getting incredibly dense. We have the FRS pension, the drop holding tank, traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, and IRMAA trapdoors. It's a lot. It is a lot. And to make things more complicated, retirement doesn't happen in a vacuum. A lot of these administrators have been dutifully putting money away in separate workplace accounts for decades.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

That's true. Many public employees have accumulated substantial balances in 457B deferred compensation plans or 403B accounts entirely separate from their pension.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

The guide specifically calls out the 457B as a secret weapon for early retirees. Why is that specific account so valuable compared to, you know, a standard 401k or an IRA?

SPEAKER_01 14:07

The 457B is unique because it is designed specifically for state and local government employees and it lacks the standard 10% early withdrawal penalty.

SPEAKER_00 14:15

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_01 14:16

Yeah. Normally, if you pull money out of a 401 or an IRA before you reach age 59 and a half, the IRS hits you with the 10% penalty right on top of your normal income taxes.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

But the 457B bypasses that rule completely.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

As soon as you separate from service, you can access those 457B funds penalty-free, regardless of your age. Wow. This makes it the ultimate bridge income. If you finish your Draw period and formally retire at age 56, you can draw down your 457B to fund your daily lifestyle.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

That's brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

It is. This allows you to delay taking Social Security, which increases your eventual benefit, and it provides income while you carefully execute those partial Roth conversions before you reach Medicare age.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Okay, so if we connect this to the bigger picture, we've protected this money from the IRS while you're alive by using the 457B bridge and the partial Roth conversions. But what happens if you don't spend all $700,000? Does the IRS just wait to ambush your kids when they inherit it?

SPEAKER_01 15:14

That is the primary estate planning concern for today's retirees. For a long time, the massive fear was the federal estate tax taking half of everything you owned. But the guide highlights a new legislative reality. Which is well, under one big beautiful bill act, which was signed into law on July 4th, 2025, the landscape shifted dramatically.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

What did that specific legislation change?

SPEAKER_01 15:37

The Act permanently set the federal estate tax exemption at $15 million per individual.

SPEAKER_00 15:42

$15 million, okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:44

That means a married couple can pass down $30 million to their heirs before federal estate taxes even begin to apply. So for the vast majority of FRS retirees, even those who have accumulated substantial wealth, the federal estate tax is just a non-issue.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

So if the federal estate tax is out of the picture, what is the ambush waiting for the heirs?

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Aaron Powell The Ambush is ordinary income taxes driven by the Secure Act. If you leave a massive pre-tax traditional IRA, you know, the one funded by your drawers rollover to your children, they inherit a massive tax liability. Under the Secure Act, non-spoused beneficiaries are generally forced to drain that inherited IRA entirely within 10 years of your passing.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

Wait, so they can't just let it sit there and grow until they retire.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

They cannot. Yeah. And consider the timing here. When your children typically inherit your IRA, they are usually in their 40s or 50s. Those are historically their peak earning years. They're already in high tax brackets. Now, the government is forcing them to take massive distributions from your traditional IRA and add it to their peak income during a compressed 10-year window.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Oh wow. You are dropping the exact same overflowing tax bucket problem you avoided at retirement right into your kids' laps during their most expensive decades.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Exactly. Which is why the guide emphasizes strategies like qualified charitable distributions or QCDs. Once you reach age 70 and a half, the government eventually forces you to take required minimum distributions from your traditional IRA. With a QCD, you could donate funds directly from your IRA to a qualified charity.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

How does that mechanically solve the tax problem, though?

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Because the money travels directly from the IRA to the charity, it never touches your personal checking account. Therefore, it never lands on your 1040 tax return. It completely bypasses your income recognition, meaning it cannot trigger IRA, it cannot push you into a higher tax bracket, but it still satisfies the government's mandate that money must leave the account. It is a highly efficient way to draw down the pre-tax bubble so your kids don't inherit a tax nightmare.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Okay, we have covered an incredible amount of ground. We've explored the frozen pension mechanics, the math behind the opportunity costs, the overflowing tax buckets, the IRMA trapdoors, 457 B bridge strategies, and the Secure Act inheritance rules.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

We really went deep.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

So what does this all mean? Let's bring all of this dense wealth management theory back down to earth for the listener. How do you actually determine if you are the right candidate to sign that deardrop paperwork?

SPEAKER_01 18:14

Well, the Davies Wealth Guide offers a highly pragmatic decision matrix. The ideal candidate is someone who has already maximized their pension accrual and hit a salary ceiling. They don't foresee major promotions or raises, meaning the frozen pension calculation doesn't harm their future earning power. They want to work maybe two to five more years, but they are emotionally and professionally ready to exit the career. They plan to remain in Florida to preserve the lack of state income tax, and crucially, they have outside assets.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

And the wrong candidate. Who should avoid this form entirely?

SPEAKER_01 18:57

The wrong candidate is anyone expecting significant future salary growth. If you are in line for a major promotion to administration or a massive collective bargaining increase is on the horizon, entering G Drop is a mistake.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

Because you freeze it.

SPEAKER_01 19:11

Exactly. Yeah. Your pension is frozen, you will never see the lifetime benefit of that higher salary. The wrong candidate is also someone who struggles with lump sum management. If you take $500,000 and leave it in a zero yield checking account, you destroy the wealth accumulation purpose. And finally, the wrong candidate is the person we discussed earlier. Someone who enters D Drop solely because the calendar says they just hit minimum eligibility, completely ignoring the opportunity cost of their guaranteed lifetime income.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

And there is a hard reality check for any candidate. Regardless of their financial sophistication, you generally cannot return to work for the same employer or a closely related FRS employer after your Drop period ends.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

No, it requires a bona fide separation. You cannot retire on a Friday and come back as a highly paid consultant for the exact same agency on a Monday.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

Right.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Doing so seriously jeopardizes your entire pension status.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

So entering DrewDoc is absolutely not a simple checkbox. It is a multivariable financial pivot that requires you to predict your tax brackets, your lifespan, your Medicare premiums, and your children's future income.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Which raises an important question for anyone listening who is approaching this milestone. Are you modeling your retirement projections based on the earliest date you can legally retire, or are you modeling them based on the date that actually maximizes your long-term wealth?

SPEAKER_00 20:31

That's a huge difference.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

It is, because the mathematical difference between those two dates often represents tens of thousands of dollars in annual guaranteed pension income for the rest of your life.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

It requires sophisticated analysis, the opportunity costs, the multi-year Roth conversions, the estate plan. It all has to be carefully choreographed. And that is exactly why this specific guide exists.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

Davies Wealth Management has been serving clients in the financial services sector for decades, with a dedicated presence on the Treasure Coast since 2009 and operating in Stewart, Florida since 2021. Right. As a fee-based fiduciary advisor, they are legally bound to put your financial interests first, rather than pushing proprietary products.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

If you are trying to untangle this complex web for your own situation, their complete Florida retirement guide is available as a resource. It is designed to navigate the income strategies, tax considerations, and Social Security timing specific to Florida public retirees. Better yet, you can book a complimentary fiduciary audit phone call with the Davies wealth management team. Let them run your specific FRS benefit projections on the actual software. Model your exit at your current date, and then model it out 12, 24, and 36 months into the future.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

Exactly. Compare the numbers.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

Right. Compare the guaranteed lifetime pension difference directly against the projected D-drop accumulation. Don't guess with a generic online calculator. Run the actual math for your life.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

Navigating a $700,000 financial pivot alone, especially when balancing complex outside assets and delayed tax penalties is leaving far too much of your future to chance.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

Which brings us to a final thought I want to leave you with today. We spent this entire deep dive analyzing the math, the tax brackets, and the legislative roles. But one of the most valuable parts of the 60-month G drop program isn't the lump sum of cash bubbling up in that side account.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

I'm curious where you're going with this.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

Think about the pure psychology of the timeline. For 20, 25, maybe 30 years, you have been entirely defined by this career, by the badge, by the classroom. That seemingly routine form we talked about at the beginning, it triggers an unalterable 60-month countdown clock.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

Right. The sand starts falling.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

Over those five years, as that separate account grows, you are financially, but more importantly, emotionally practicing for the day you finally hand over your keys. You are forced to confront the end of an era and figure out who you are without the title. So the question to ponder is this Are you using that 60 month countdown to actually plan your life or just using it to plan your taxes?

SPEAKER_01 23:06

That is a profoundly important distinction. The math only matters if you know what you are funding.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

You're still running on the treadmill, but now you know exactly when the motor shuts off. Make sure you know exactly where you're stepping when you finally get off.